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Virtua Names Barker

Newly formed Virtua Health of New Jersey last week selected Barker Campbell Farley & Mansfield in Virginia Beach, Va., agency of record for its $1.6 million advertising account. Barker is responsible for all advertising, public relations and promotions for the Marlton, N.J., healthcare provider, the result of an October affiliation between West Jersey Health Systems and Memorial Health Alli-ance. The shop will brand the new entity. Currently, Virtua Health operates five hospitals and related medical facilities in New Jersey’s Burlington and Camden Counties. Barker will focus on the client’s home healthcare services, according to Linda Lake, vice president of public relations and marketing at Virtua Health. The six-month review saw Barker as the lone Southern finalist pitching against five unnamed competitors, largely from the Philadelphia/South Jersey region, Lake said. She pointed to Barker’s healthcare experience as agency for Sentara Health System, Norfolk, Va., and Valley Health, Ridgewood, N.J., as a key decision factor. “We liked the work they had done for Sentara, another consolidated system, where there seemed to be some similar situations,” Lake said. “They said all the right things in the review. . . . Personalities obviously had a lot to do with it.” Previously, West Jersey Health Systems and Memorial Health Alliance worked with Sturm Rosenberg Cafferata in Chicago and Threshold Advertising in Moores-town, N.J., respectively. Barker will also promote Virtua’s nursing facilities, mobile intensive care unit and doctors’ specialties.